People power peaks and endless apathy

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Volume 5, issue 7 Summer 2011

Current issue Volume 5, issue 10 November 2011

The annual EU-Ukraine summit is due to take place in Kyiv on December 19, but instead of the hoped for Association Agreement fanfare, this years event is likely to be an awkward affair. Will Ukraine instead return to the Russian embrace and sign up for the Kremlins Eurasian Union?

July-August 2011

People power peaks and endless apathy

The highs of 1991 and 2004 isolated against 20-year backdrop of apathy and disappointment

The 2004 Orange Revolution put Ukraine on the map internationally, with global audiences hooked to photogenic scenes of revolutionaries braving sub-zero temperatures in an uneven battle set against a picturesque backdrop of bright orange flags and continuous snowfall. It was beautiful, it was romantic and the justice of the cause was intoxicating. For over a month, it felt like the entire world was watching. In retrospect, it is actually hard to imagine a more successful international branding campaign for a nation seeking to shed its obscurity. However, while Ukraines people power protests worked wonders for the countrys international profile and positioning, it has had a less emphatic impact on the nations domestic political culture. As Ukraine marks twenty years of independence the country finds itself once again in a politically ambiguous position balancing between Europe and Eurasia, with the general population disillusioned by the democratic process and memories of people power euphoria lost since faded. Interest in the political process is returning to pre-2004 levels and the countrys multi-party system is short of both champions and advocates. Nevertheless, anyone ruling Ukraine must do so while conscious of the fact that the nation has risen successfully in recent memory and remains theoretically capable of doing so again. Few in the present administration which is largely made up of individuals who found themselves on the losing side during the Orange Revolution will need reminding of Ukraines awesome people power potential, but it remains to be seen whether these bitter memories will continue to act as a deterrent if the current climate of apathy becomes further engrained.

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After the Orange optimism: from people power euphoria to retrospective cynicism After five years of Orange progress in that most basic of democratic prerequisites the holding of free and fair elections October 2010 witnessed the first nationwide vote since 2004 to receive international criticism. This electoral dysfunction was one of a number of indicators including accusations of a return to media censorship and the arrest of political opponents which pointed to a broader rejection of the post-Orange settlement and a shift towards a more authoritarian model of government. While the long march towards Euro democracy was never a straightforward affair during the tumultuous Orange era, the nation currently seems to be hastily retracing its earlier tentative steps. And yet despite this apparent reversal of the countrys pro-democracy trajectory, there have been no mass demonstrations worthy of the name. No leader has emerged to defend the rights which in 2004 many felt were worth dying for. Instead, for most Ukrainians the people power heyday of the mid-2000s has become a distant and awkward memory. A mood of cynicism has taken its place in the public imagination, fuelled by the anti-climatic results of an earlier enthusiasm which in retrospect begins to

Monthly photo diary

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People power peaks and endless apathy

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take on an embarrassing tint of naivety and exploitation.

Shameless rent-a-mob culture and the corruption of political activism This apathy is only half the reason why people power has lost its edge in modern Ukraine. The debasement of the concept has also been central to its downfall, with an entire industry springing up in recent years offering employment for anyone prepared to offer their services as a political prop. Ever since the arrival of fledgling Ukrainian democracy in the early 1990s it had been standard operating procedure to pay people to attend political rallies, but since the Orange Revolution the entire concept of people power has been abused to such a degree that it has lost all credibility. The Orange Revolution raised the stakes enormously in what up until then had been a relatively limited contest. It was a game-changer that made paid protests a central pillar of the countrys post-Orange political pluralism and in many ways guaranteed the rapid erosion of the genres credibility.

People power parodies and political tourism Before the advent of the Orange Revolution, paid crowds had largely been used as a supplementary strategy to harass and to embarrass political rivals. After the Orange Revolution this changed overnight and the mass rally became the weapon of choice - something which could be deployed to paralyze parliament and bring down governments. It proved the advent of an age of political tourism, with rural Ukrainians largely from the Party of Regions heartlands of southern and eastern Ukraine were brought to the capital in their tens of thousands to stand listlessly on Independence Square, drink vodka and goggle at the relative consumer riches of downtown Kyiv. The nadir was reached during the spring 2007 showdown following President Yushchenkos call for fresh parliamentary elections, which saw Kyiv brought to a standstill for almost two months. Every morning coach convoys brought hordes of villagers snaking into Kyivs river port terminal, to then be marched up the hill to Independence Square. This regimented debacle of the unwashed went on relentlessly for weeks and led to swirling rumours about outbreaks of cholera as well as considerable Kyivite anger at the conduct of this bussed in protester army. It proved to be the beginning of the end for people power and the Ukrainian media led to the charge, publishing lists of salaries offered by different political parties (all the major parties offered good daily rates, while flag bearers were particularly well paid). Students boasted in the press and online about spending the morning on one side of the barricades and the afternoon on the other, all the while clocking up income. Others complained of having been forced to participate by factory owner bosses and other well-connected individuals. The moral authority of the people power protest had officially been lost.

Orange seeds have yet to bear full fruit This rent-a-mob culture actually has its roots in the Soviet era and had been developed significantly in the perestroika years as a method by which the Party could mount a defence of its crumbling ideological empire by bussing loyalists to trouble spots during the rising independence movements of 1989-91. Its post-Soviet practice is by no means limited to Ukraine Russia and most other former Soviet republics have embraced the method with equal if not greater enthusiasm. However, Ukraine is perhaps unique in having had a genuine popular movement which arose in the post-Soviet era and succeeded in drowning out the state propaganda for a period. Despite universal disillusion, the culture of political engagement brought about by the initial success of the Orange Revolution has not totally evaporated it has merely evolved and splintered into a pluralistic political organism which is still taking shape at the grassroots level. Mass street protests may have lost their power, but more theatrical and provocative performances have taken their place. The ubiquitous FEMEN group is the perfect example of this people power equivalent of the military switch from conscript armies to more compact, professional forces. FEMEN activists have achieved international fame over the past four years for their combination of soft porn and political populism, with the all-girl group boasting of using sex to sell their ideas. This kind of direct action is the fruit of the Orange Revolution and a reflection of the

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People power peaks and endless apathy

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frustration felt by many young Ukrainians who entered adulthood at a time of unprecedented Orange freedoms. This generation has yet to find its voice politically and is still making its way professionally, but it would be reasonable to assume that as they enter their thirties they will become increasingly politically conscious and demanding. In a world of online activism Ukraines amply demonstrated people power potential and fundamentally democratic instincts could quickly reemerge as a major force on the internet and tool to mobilise the masses. However, any future efforts to promote popular participation in Ukraines murky politics will have to overcome the nations well-founded and currently dominant mood of cynicism. The big question will be whether enough Ukrainians can put aside the disappointments of the past seven hope-laden years and re-engage with a political process which many feel has personally betrayed them.

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